A $2 million federal grant will advance the development of a quantum-powered diagnostic test capable of detecting bird flu and lumpy skin disease within 15 minutes. The funding comes through Australia’s Critical Technologies Challenge Program and will help Avicena Systems create field-ready prototypes of a device that delivers lab-quality results outside traditional laboratory environments.
This test will first address H5N1 bird flu, which reached Australia this year, and lumpy skin disease, a cattle virus currently spreading across South-East Asia toward northern Australia. According to Dr. Paul Watt, Avicena’s Executive Chair, rapid detection is essential because “Every hour an infection goes undetected is an hour it has to spread,” he said. The grant follows a $500,000 award in 2025 to Avicena and the University of Western Australia, which demonstrated the technology’s viability. The new funding will cover prototype development, construction, and validation using real biosecurity samples.
Standard molecular tests find pathogen DNA or RNA by multiplying target genes a billionfold. Samples such as saliva, blood and swabs also emit a faint background glow that can mask the signal in the earliest stages of infection, which Avicena likens to hearing a whisper in a packed stadium. Its answer is quantum dots, nanoscale particles whose light signal shifts within billionths of a second when they meet a pathogen molecule.
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Single-photon counting detectors and advanced optics then separate that signal from the background noise. The prototype is being designed for the company’s Sentinel platform, an automated system that can process between 10 and 5,000 samples an hour depending on demand. It is built for use at borders, farms, clinics and outbreak zones.
Tony Fitzgerald, CEO and co-founder of Avicena, said the fastest test closest to the source made the difference when a new disease arrived. “This is cutting-edge Australian science, targeting new and dangerous animal and human pathogens that now threaten us regularly.” Avicena has assembled eight partners across Australia and the Gulf region: three research institutions, two government agencies and three livestock-focused industry organisations. To stay up-to-date on the latest industry headlines, sign up to the Pet Industry News e-newsletter.
